The Indiana Fever and the WNBA knew the arrival of Caitlin Clark would have a massive effect on both the league’s popularity and the team’s popularity. It’s why 36 of 40 games on Indiana’s schedule will be nationally televised this season. Clark’s arrival is also massive for stadium attendance.
Last season, the Fever had the second-lowest average home attendance in the WNBA at 4,067 tickets sold per game, according to BeyondWomensSports.com. While it marked a significant improvement over Fever attendance in 2022 (1,776 per game), it was still one of the least-popular WNBA teams.
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All of that changed upon Clark’s arrival. Since Clark was drafted by Indiana with the first overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, ticket sales for the WNBA increased by 93 percent, other WNBA teams had to start relocating their home games against the Fever to bigger arenas. Meanwhile, Indiana saw record-setting ticket sales with massive interest in attendance at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which has a seating capacity of 18,000.
Here, we’ll be tracking the Fever attendance for the 2024 season.
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Indiana Fever attendance: Clark’s home debut pulls massive crowd
Making her home debut in Indiana’s preseason finale on Thursday night against the Atlanta Dream, Caitlin Clark’s presence brought a record-setting crowd to the Gainbridge Fieldhouse for a WNBA game.
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The final Fever attendance on Thursday night came in at 13,028 people for the preseason matchup. For context, the highest attendance Indiana had last season for a regular-season game was 7,365. For even greater comparison, only two WNBA teams – Las Vegas Aces (9,551) and Phoenix Mercury (9,197) – had an average attendance of over 9,000 last year.
It’s the highest attendance for a Fever game since Sept 18, 2016, according to Across the Timeline, when 17,704 fans showed up to watch Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings play the final home game of her legendary career with Indiana.
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Prior to Thursday’s game, Clark made her WNBA preseason debut on the road against the Dallas Wings. In a Fever vs Wings matchup held at the College Park Center – stadium capacity of 7,000 – recorded a sellout for a preseason game.
This is just the beginning of what’s to come. By the end of the 2024 season, the Fever will likely be among the WNBA attendance leaders in 2024 by a wide margin. Bookmark this page for updates throughout the regular season.
